BlackBerry screams 'BUY ME!' as the buzzards circle

I cannot keep count of
the amount of times in the past few weeks I have had the same conversation with
friends, colleagues and even my partner.

Person I am familiar with: What is the phone you have now?

Me: A BlackBerry Z10.

PIAFW: [laughter] Really? A BlackBerry? Are you the last person with one of
those? [more laughter]

Me: But, but, the new operating system is great, the design is beautiful,
the...

PIAFW: [louder laughter]

Me: [insert expletive]

Admittedly, my
boyfriend is an iPhone user, so I discount his opinion instantly [sorry love]
but fellow beings both of the tech and non-tech persuasion seem to find my
admiration for the product baffling.

I was the dream
customer for BlackBerry; the one they envisioned when designing the new devices
and operating system it launched in January. A previously dedicated Android
customer who had dabbled with the idea of a new OS after getting annoyed with fragmentation
and malicious apps. One who had considered Microsoft and Nokia's partnership
but had not been won over. One who was ready to fall in love with her mobile
all over again.

But it never came to
be. Many months have passed and still no one has leapt to its defence. Instead talk
is now around BlackBerry selling up shop - something everyone in the industry
foretold - and a $1bn loss, mostly due to the writedown caused by unsold Z10s.

A Reuters article has
now been getting a lot of attention, citing 'several sources close to the matter' throwing out names of prospective new owners; OS rivals like Microsoft - which just shelled out $7.2bn on Nokia - and Google, handset rivals like Samsung and
LG, even technology giants Intel and Cisco have been mentioned.

You could come up with
an argument for why each would want to buy BlackBerry and equally why each
would want to run away. There is no doubt its existing customer base is
attractive to those wanting to break into either North America or the world of
enterprise. There is also little question its BES software is still widely
regarded as the safest bet for corporate roll-outs and there are some tasty
looking patents owned by the firm.

But there are plenty
of question marks over the future value of the company, whether it will
continue to fall in the next 18 months or if any buyer would have to pump in so
much investment, it might not be worth the initial layout.

I will leave the
economists to answer that question but it all smells to me like a bit more
posturing from those sources who, let's face it, are likely to be BlackBerry
employees or executives bigging up the firm again like with the Fairfax offer
and hoping to make its for sale sign look more like an Apple advert than a
Steve Ballmer video.

But I don't blame
them. The best bet is to sell up and sell fast before the offers dry up.
Because the fact is, despite what I think of the handsets and the software,
customers don't want to buy BlackBerry, and in bars, businesses and even
bedrooms across the globe, the few remaining fans are being laughed at by
friends, colleagues and partners for defending the brand. Trust me, I know...